Chinese iPad row threatens global supply

It hasn’t been a good week for Apple, and it’s threatening to get much worse on the legal front.

This week started with just another lawsuit, with Apple alleging more patent infringements by Samsung and attempting to obtain a preliminary injunction to ban sales of the Galaxy Nexus in the US.

However, the boot is on the other foot when it comes to China, with Shenzhen-based firm Proview stepping up its legal action against the Cupertino company.

Proview has been involved in a long-running dispute in China over the fact that it owns the trademark of the iPad name over there.

This week, the issue has escalated and resulted in some retailers in major Chinese cities pulling the iPad from the shelves, cajoled by local officials to do so.

Amazon has also reportedly been asked by Apple itself to remove the iPad 2 from its Chinese website.

This in itself is damaging enough in the vast territory of China where Apple has been successfully carving out a fresh market for its devices.

However, according to a report in the Independent, matters could be set to get even worse for Tim Cook’s company.

Proview has apparently now moved to block the shipment of iPads from China, not just the sale of them in the country.

As Apple’s supplies come from China, this could theoretically throw a massive spanner in the works and cause a global shortage of its tablet computers.

And the timing couldn’t be worse, what with the iPad 3 about to be unveiled next month (or so rumour has it). And traditionally, if we’re looking at a spring launch, there are enough shortages under normal supply conditions, let alone if there’s trouble up at the company “mill”.

While Apple insists that it has bought the iPad name fully and above board, last year Proview secured a verdict in a Chinese court to the effect that it still owns the name in its home country.

Apple, naturally, is appealing that decision. While the damage in China might be serious, it’s hard to believe that it would be fair and just to see the entire worldwide iPad supply chain disrupted due to this issue.

We shall see…

The real irony, perhaps, is that China is once again following in the footsteps of the huge corporations of the West, who have massively ramped up patent and other litigation as part of their standard tools of business practice. With Apple being a forerunner in that department, of course.